1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally directed to sighting devices for use with archery bows and more specifically to a bow sight having a housing which is mounted to the bow and from which extends a sight rod which is positively biased within the housing against a range adjustment mechanism mounted through the housing whereby one or two sight elements which extends outwardly of the housing may be effectively adjusted and positively retained in an adjusted position by the biased arrangement between the adjustment mechanism and the sight rod.
2. History of the Related Art
Heretofore there have been a number of sighting devices which have been designed for use with various types of hunting or target bows. Most conventional bow sights require a manual unlocking or loosening of a bolt or other adjustment mechanism in order to permit the bow sight to be adjusted. In Brown U.S. Pat. No. 2,351,103 , one such sighting device for archery bows is disclosed. The bow sight disclosed in the patent to Brown requires a number of adjustment knobs to be turned in order to align the sight within a sight tube. Further, vertical adjustment of the sight itself requires the loosening of a threaded knob so that the sight may be guided along a slotted channel to a predetermined position and thereafter the threaded knob tightened to engage the sight tube in a fixed position relative to the bow. Unfortunately, with this type of mechanism, should the locking knob utilized to secure the sight housing to the bow become loose the housing will shift thereby taking the sight out of proper alignment. Further, with such sighting devices, whenever an adjustment is necessary the locking mechanism utilized to secure the sight in position must be loosened and thereafter the sight manually shifted to one position or another after which the locking mechanism must be manipulated to secure the sight in place. When tightening the locking mechanism the sight can be accidentally shifted or moved relative to its intended aligned position.
Another type of sighting device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,420 to a Figured. This sighting device incorporates a sight rod which is disposed through a support rod housed within a sleeve in such a manner that the sight rod binds against the sleeve as the support rod is drawn into engagement with a mounting bracket. Tension to secure the sight rod in place is applied by a nut mounted to a threaded end portion of the support rod. Therefore, as with the reference to Brown, a manual manipulation of the nut is necessary in order to adjust the sight rod with respect to the sight mounting bracket. If the nut is accidentally loosened, the sight rod can be accidentally moved from its adjusted position.
In applicant's copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/617,911 which is a continuation of Ser. No. 07/403,110, now abandoned entitled Compound Archery Bow with Adjustable Sight and Hand Anchor, filed Sept. 5, 1989, an improvement in bow sights is disclosed which incorporates a housing in which an elongated sight rod is pivotally mounted to a support rod which is pivoted by the inner and outer movement of a threaded adjustment member having a hand rotatable crank mounted to one end thereof. Such a sighting device requires that the front and rear sight rods be mounted or keyed to the pivotable shaft so that the front and rear sights are pivoted when the shaft is moved by the inner and outer movement of the threaded adjustment member. In addition, the crank member may only be turned through 180.degree. before the crank engages the housing of the sight mechanism. Therefore, the adjustment of the mechanism is somewhat limited.
Some additional examples of sighting devices for bows are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,553,338 to Le Beau and 3,667,444 to Depatie et al.